At their meeting on 7 July 2022, Councillors on the South & West Plans Panel have come down on the side of building the new GP surgery and health centre in the heart of the Cottingley Hall estate.
The Panel heard a pre-application presentation from Fuller & Forbes Healthcare who run the surgery, outlining two options to replace to current surgery which is no longer fit for purpose. As we reported last week, the first option was a site next the A6110 Ring Road whilst the second option was on land next to the shops on Cottingley Vale.
When questioned, Dr Mark Fuller said he had originally favoured Option 1, mainly from a financial perspective, but he could also see the added benefit of redeveloping the centre of Cottingley for patients. He added that as the new centre would include community health and hospital out patient services, he had concerns that Option 2 would bring extra traffic onto the estate.
Cllr Andrew Scopes (Labour, Beeston & Holbeck) addressed the meeting and spoke about the importance of retaining the GP practice on the estate. He urged the Panel to back to plans for Option 2, saying:
“I’m asking the panel to fully support this, for officers to find pragmatic solutions to the parking issues even at the loss of some small plots of green space.”
An officer from Highways expressed their reservations about Option 1 because of its location close to a major junction and the proposed widening of the road on this section to create better bus and cycle routes.
After some debate the Panel concluded:
- Acceptance of the need for the provision in the area
- Site two is the option they would prefer to take forward
- They potentially accept the use of green space if required for additional parking,
They also wanted to be aspirational about the scope for the development and will ask the Council’s Asset Management team to have a discussion about the comprehensive redevelopment to include the shops, but were mindful there might be some difficulties there in terms of timescales and funding.
Discussions will now continue with the applicants and planning officers and a full planning application will come forward in due course.
